Container



United States Patent CONTAINER Frank Micciche, Floral Park, NY.

Application February 23, '1956, Serial No. 567,266 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-41)This invention relates to containers for small articles and relates moreparticularly to a novel disposablecom tamer for cigarettes wherein allof the cigarettes will be disposed in a straight line, thus providing aflat, thin package which can be carried in the inside coat pocket of theuser without bulging.

The conventional package for twenty cigarettes is almost one inch inthickness and contains three superimposed layers or rows of cigarettes.This shape of package practically requires that a man carry it in histrousers pocket since if it is carried in the side pocket of his jacketthere is always a noticeable bulge.

An important object of the present invention is to provide an improvedrelatively flat package, wherein the twenty cigarettes are in a singleplane and wherein all of the cigarettesare readily accessible when thecover is opened and wherein each one of the cigarettes may be easilyremoved without the need to tear or otherwise deface any portion of thecontainer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel container inwhich the wall structure is so arranged as to afford greater protectionof the cigarette against crushing than is provided by the light paperpackages currently in use.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved cigarettecontainer having a partial liner of tinfoil or other moisture resistantmaterial which encloses the upper section of the cigarettes in thesealed packages, thus preventing them from drying out during theirperiod of shelf life. This moisture barrier also retains the freshnessafter the package has been opened. The blank forming the moisturebarrier is also formed in such a manner as to prevent undue movement ofthe cigarettes remaining in the package after a number of them have beenremoved.

The forward margin of the tinfoil liner which overlies the cover mayhave an adhesive on its outer face which causes this margin to adhere tothe front face of the front wall. This retains the liner in contact withthe upper ends of the cigarettes before the package is opened and whenthe cover is opened for the first time this margin may adhere to saidfront wall.

A further object of the invention is to provide a flat container forcigarettes or the like wherein the rear wall which carries a closureflap has a hinge line which.

enables the upper section of such rear wall to retract rearwardly alongsaid hinge line when the cover is opened in order to allow thecigarettes to be readily grasped at their upper ends for easy removal.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a plan view of the blank used in forming the improvedcontainer of the present invention and showing in dot-and-dash lines theposition of the foil blank thereon which forms the moisture barrier.

Fig. 2 is a broken perspective view of one end of the opened container.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

The blank used in forming the container of the 2 present invention maybe made from relatively heav'y' paper or stiff, thin cardboard and isformed with longi-' tudinal score lines 11 and 12 and two pairs ofspaced transverse score lines 13 and 14, and :15 and'16, thus dividingthe blank into a front wall 20, a base wall 21, a rear wall 22, a topwall 23 and a cover section 24 The rear wall has one additional scoreline 25 spaced from score line 15 to form a hinged upper rear wallsection 26. Front wall 20'is formed with a cut-out section 30 along itsupper edge to facilitate withdrawal of the cigarettes. The front,bottom, side and top walls are formed with tabs 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35,which are separated from each other along cut lines forming extensionsof fold lines 13, 14, 25, 15 and 16, respectively. These tabs form theend walls of the container and are glued in overlapping relation asshown in Fig. 2.

Before the blank is assembled into a box a second blank 40, shown indot-and-dash lines and forming a moisture barrier, is adhered to thecardboard blank. It is preferably formed from metal foil and is ofsubstantially the same length as the rear wall and the cover and extendsover the upper section of the rear Wall upwardly and down a portion ofthe cover.

This blank is formed with a plurality of spaced, longitudinal ridges 42and 43. Thus, when the cigarettes 45 are placed in the container theridges tend to press against the walls thereof to form a slightrecession as shown at 46. This tends to retain the cigarettes in theirrelative position in the container after one or more have been removedtherefrom.

The outer face of the margin of the liner which is attached to the covermay have a coating of pressure sensitive or other adhesive 47 so thatwhen the cover is initially closed with the contents therein there is afirm seal of the moisture barrier over the upper ends of the cigarettes.Thus, when the package is opened in the first instance this margin willadhere to the front wall and the liner will be torn along the linedefining the adhesive area. This line may be scored or perforated, asindicated at 48, to facilitate this tearing action.

While there have been described herein what are at present consideredpreferred embodiments of the invenvention, the scope of which is definedin the appended claims, and that all modifications that come within themeaning and scope of equivalency of the claims are in tended to beincluded therein.

and the rear panel having a crease line extending between the inner endsof said cuts to form an upper rear panel section which is movablerearwardly when the cover is open to expose articles carried in thebox,'tabs. carried at opposed ends of the top panel which are joined tosaid wall portions lying above the cuts to cause said. portions to moverearwardly with said upper rear panel, and aliner of moisture resistantmaterial extending over the inner face of the top panel and over aportion of the cover and the rear panel, the latter liner portionhaving;

- 3 v 4- a. plurality oi spaced, outwardly extendfng hon'zontal1,746,000 Lee Feb. 4, 1930 ribs theneine which engage saidearticlestoprevent lateral '1 1,842,728 Mol-ins- Ian. 26, 1932 movement thereof inthe container. 1,875,197 Molins Aug. 30, 1932 2,013,646 Andrews Sept.10, 1935 efer nces. Clte 1n the filer f. th1s patent 5 2,247,870Chalmers July 1, 19407 UNITED STATES PATENTS 364,726 Meyer Dec; 21 1 886FOREIGN PATENTS 1 648 156 Tejada Nov. 8; 1 92 7 658,385 Germany Mar. 30,1938

